It's hard to believe that Paramore and Bonnaroo’s paths didn’t cross until this year.

Bonnaroo began its reign as one of America’s premier music festivals in 2002, in the middle Tennessee town of Manchester. Paramore was formed just one year later, roughly 45 minutes down the road in Franklin.

On Friday, these two international names finally converged.

“Well, this is Bonnaroo! This is it,” frontwoman Hayley Williams said, after basking in a long ovation from their audience.

“This is what they were telling us about all those years. Right in our backyard, and we never came to see you. I’m so sorry! Thanks for waiting!”

Well, if Paramore was going to hold off on their Bonnaroo bow, 2018 may have been the best year for them to finally take the plunge. Their 2017 album After Laughter found them trading their trademark pop-punk sound for a funky, worldly indie-pop style, which is right up Bonnaroo’s alley.

On top of that, the college set of 2018 that’s now at Bonnaroo were clearly once the teenagers that adored Paramore’s precocious, punky early fare. That was immediately evident from the roar that greeted That’s What You Get, off their breakout 2007 album, Riot!